Members of a national Catholic organization -- the National Survivor Advocates Coalition -- on Sunday demanded that Finn resign. A spokeswoman for that group said simply, "A criminally convicted bishop cannot lead."

The bishop is the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic cleric to be convicted in the church’s decades-long child sexual abuse scandal.

Joshua J. McElwee is an NCR staff writer whose reporting and feature writing have earned several awards from the Catholic Press Association and have been featured in The Huffington Post, The Irish Catholic, and other outlets. A graduate of The Catholic University of America, he is also a member of the Holy Family Catholic Worker community in Kansas City, Mo. His e-mail address is jmcelwee@ncronline.org.